Maverick Vinales will remain part of the Yamaha MotoGP factory squad until at least the end of the 2022 season, the Japanese marque announced in a statement, making him the first front-runner to firm up their future.
Vinales was softly linked to a potential move to Ducati at the end of his current Yamaha deal, which runs to the end of this year, but has decided to remain with his current team.
Vinales made the move across to Yamaha for the 2017 season, having spent his first two years in the premier class with Suzuki.
“I’m extremely happy because I feel like I get to keep ‘my own team’,” said Vinales.
“This will be the second year with my current crew, and after this I have two more years to look forward to. I’m so excited!”
“I think that if we keep working really hard we are heading the right way. For me, it was very important to make this announcement before the season started, because I’m highly motivated and want to be able to fully concentrate on the 2020 season.
“There were no reasons not to stay with Yamaha, because they feel like family. Yamaha is giving me a lot of support and, as I said, I have ‘my own team’, which is something I really need. We need to keep working and be very strong.
“Our main objective is, as always, to be World Champion and try to bring Yamaha the number one honour again. I think we will both be growing very fast and we will keep pushing.”
Vinales has claimed six victories across his three seasons with Yamaha, with a pair of third place championship results his best overall finishes in ’17 and ’19 his highest so far.
Yamaha has struggled somewhat over the past few seasons, with the partnership of Vinales and nine-time MotoGP champ Valentino Rossi managing a relatively low seven wins between them.
The manufacturer made good progress with its M1 machine throughout the second part of last season though, allowing Vinales to battle Marc Marquez for victory in Australia before crashing out-but setting the record straight with a dominant success in Malaysia.
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